The White Mage

Chapter 24

Their blades parted immediately. White took a step back, lowering her blade as she stared in astonishment at the man before her. He was completely covered by his cloak, leaving only his head to be seen. And it look worse than his white scarf that wasn't so white anymore due to dirt and blood. His face was covered in scars, mostly on right side of his face, like someone left handed had attacked him. Then White started hitting him.

"You bastard! How dare you show your face to me again! You left us! No note, no word, not even a goodbye!"

"It's kind of hard, when your brother just tried to kill you!" 

White  pulled back in confusion. She tilted her head slightly, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Crow, he tried to kill me that day. Come on, I'll explain everything."

He swept his arm out, gesturing to a large mansion at the end of the street. It was the only thing not scorched or broken. Our feet scraped across the cobblestone streets as walk towards it. The mansion was even larger and looming when we reached the large doors. White placed her palm against the solid wood, staring at the man who lead us here. But he was staring down where his feet should be. The large door creaked open, spilling the dull light of a cloudy day into the entrance hall. A blue flame sprang to life in White's hand, illuminating the hall slightly. When I looked up, my breath caught in my throat. A large banner sporting the Black Angel's symbol hung from the ceiling.

"What is this place?"

"The Erimoor estate. Ex-home of the Black Angel's." White answered.

She then pressed her palms together, extinguishing the flame and throwing us back into darkness. White mumbled something under her breath, I assumed it was a spell, and parted her hands quickly. From between her hands, another flame had sprung up and was thrown forward. It hung in the air for a moment before dividing and zooming off through the mansion. After a moment, everything corner of the mansion was lit.

"Whoa." Cain voiced.

"This place is amazing." Abby added. 

While they found the place great, I wanted nothing more than to burn that banner until their was nothing left. But I tore my eyes away from it and followed White down the hall on the right. Large windows on the right showed the fenced in yard that might have once been beautiful. On the left, more banners hung between portraits of White's family members. The banners hanging there were like having someone slap you in the face then laugh at you. They were like a cruel, sick joke. After everything that White and I had lost to that symbol, I might have despised that symbol more than I despised Crow.

The study was a homey room, the soft and warm light from the fire in the hearth aiding it. But there was a thick layer of dust over everything. Thick enough for a large cloud of dust to spring up when Abby sat down on one of the sofas, resulting in her to start coughing heavily. Cain stood behind her, putting a hand on the back on the back of the sofa, just shy of her shoulder. White went around the desk in the corner to pull the wooden chair over to the sofas as the man shed his cloak. The chair dropped out of White's hand as she stared at the man's left arm. Or at the absence of it.

"Era...what....I don't....what happened?"

The man looked down at his arm. It ended half way down his upper arm, and judging my White's reaction, he had once had his entire arm. He massaged what was left of his arm as he sat down.

"I promised that I would explain everything." He sighed. "We used to be the best of friends, the three of us against the world. But I never understood how you couldn't see how Crow really was. After all he did? Manipulate you to stay with him? Kill all those people? You didn't even know he was the one that fired  the spell that killed Anne, did you? He's my brother and I love him, but a damn raging psychopath."

Something must have snapped inside, as my magic reacted instinctively and violently. Everything glass into the room, including the large window, shattered all of a sudden. Everyone covered themselves immediately, except me. With the jerk of my arm, I used magic to expel the glass embedded in my flesh.

"He was the one to kill my mom?"

"He...So, you're Eren." The man stood up, walking towards me. "Eramus Tyren. I'm your cousin."

"But Tyren, like House Tyren? One of the biggest white aether noble houses?" He nodded. "So that means I'm a noble?"

"Yes. My father used to tell me the story of his sister falling in love with a peasant boy near Erimoor and them running off together. You must have been too young for her to tell you before she died. But you, me, and your sister are the only remaining lines of the noble house of Tyren."

"But you said Crow was your brother."

"He technically is a Tyren as well, but an illegitimate one. He's my half brother. My mother died shortly after my birth, Crow's mother was my father's girlfriend a few years later. She also died shortly after childbirth. But because my father was a noble, he had an image to keep. So he let no more know Crow was his son, instead treating him like a servant. Only the three of us knew." He sighed heavily. "After Crow tried to kill me due to his insane jealously, I was found in the woods somewhere by a nice couple. They patched me up, but by the time I returned to Haven, it was nothing but ruins. I meant to find you and your sister, but I remembered that you were young and didn't know about me. And the scars are pretty off putting." 

His right hand ghosted over the scars on his face. Then his eyes flickered down to my arm. The warm, sticky blood staining through my sleeve and running from the cuts on crisscrossing my flesh. I hadn't even thought about the pain due to my adrenaline, but now that it was ebbing away, there was nothing but searing pain.

"Era, go get him patched up. I'll clean this up." White said.

Eramus nodded, placing his hand on my shoulder. He steered me towards the hall, moving quickly due to the flowing blood. I knew why White sent us alone together. The information that we were cousins seemed new to her as well. I appreciated it. And it was a sudden comfort to have cousin's hand on my shoulder. We certainly had a lot to talk about.

~~~~~

A/N- Wow! Another chapter so soon!  Author's on a writing frenzy! So, shout out to my best friend who's birthday is exactly now. Not releasing her username as I'm not sure if she would be okay with that. And I'm too tired to ask. It's 12:03 and I'm still getting used to school again, shut up. ANYWHOO, enjoy, idk when the next chapter will be ready but you're going to get flaming birds, volcanoes, and some near death experiences. Because why not scare you with the potential death of your favorite characters? And spoiler, some's going to die by the end of the book. Enjoy. :)